Daniel Peretz is Southampton’s most reliable player, and the last month makes the case better than any argument could.
Saints have won a derby with ten men, won at Norwich and West Ham, and been held at home by Bolton, and the one player they could least afford to lose through all of it has been the goalkeeper.
Peretz at Norwich and West Ham
Start at Carrow Road on the 14th October. Flynn Downes limped off after 22 minutes with an ankle problem, two more changes followed at half time, and Southampton held a 1-0 lead after Kuryu Matsuki’s goal in the 54th minute. FotMob named the goalkeeper its man of the match.
West Ham was messier. Peretz spilt the ball in the first half, and Taty Castellanos put the chance glaringly wide, which is the kind of moment that keeps his handling in the conversation.
Later, Peretz preserved Saint's valuable and slender lead in the dying moments of a frantic match. West Ham had been pushing for the whole of the second half; Max Kilman hit the woodwork with an effort that deflected off Peretz, and when Castellanos got a header on target after Tomáš Souček’s stoppage-time strike, Peretz combined agility with bravery to pull off a remarkable match-winning save. A 3-2 win could so easily have been a 3-3 draw.
Tonda Eckert said afterwards that a team defending at that ground needs a goalkeeper in certain moments, and that Daniel was excellent. Fair enough.
Here’s how Southampton line up to face West Ham this afternoon #saintsfc pic.twitter.com/WZy57mbL5L
— SaintsExtra (@SaintsExtra) October 24, 2026
Peretz and the outfield group
The table compares Peretz with the four outfield players who started every one of these games.
Player | Portsmouth (H) | Norwich (A) | Bolton (H) | West Ham (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Daniel Peretz | 8.2 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 7.9 |
James Ward-Prowse | 7.3 | 7.1 | 7.6 | 7.8 |
Finn Azaz | 7.7 | 7.4 | 7.1 | 7.1 |
Jack Stephens | 7.3 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 6.6 |
Keven Schlotterbeck | 7.8 | 7.0 | 7.5 | 6.8 |
James Ward-Prowse is the nearest challenger for the title of best Southampton player this month, and he finished it strongly. Peretz is still ahead of him, because the goalkeeper was brilliant in the matches when the rest of the side was reshuffled or under siege.
Bolton could easily be overlooked. Cyle Larin went off with a hamstring problem before half time, Lewis Dobbin had to lead the line alone, and Peretz made three saves to keep a third clean sheet in a row, which Saints Marching picked out in their Bolton winners and losers column.
His summer move was brilliant business. Bayern Munich let him go permanently, and Saints Marching’s signing report quoted him as calling Southampton a bigger dream than the Premier League.
Verdict: Southampton’s best player this month is the goalkeeper. QPR arrive at St Mary’s on Saturday having lost only twice in twelve league games, and Eckert will want the same man doing what he does best behind his back four.
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